​Spain pushes for harsh law on abortions, sparking outrage

People hold placards reading "No to clerical, macho and medieval laws" (L), "Legal abortion, to don't die" and "The right to decide" during a pro-choice demonstration in Madrid against the government's plan to tighten abortion laws on December 20, 2013 (AFP Photo) / AFP

The Spanish government has approved restrictions on abortions, allowing the procedure only in case of rape or serious risk to mother’s health. Outraged opposition and women rights activists say the law will take women’s rights back to the 1980s.

The law is yet to be passed by the parliament where the ruling
party has a majority, but Spain’s Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz
Gallardon said in his traditional post cabinet press conference
that it is almost sure to happen.

The legislation puts a stop to the women’s rights to terminate
their pregnancy in the first 14 weeks. Plus, the women won’t be
able to make an abortion if the fetus is found to be malformed.

According to the legislation, the only reasons making the
abortion possible are if the woman’s health is under threat by
the continuing pregnancy, or if she had been raped.

Moreover, in the case of any hazard to health, the woman will
have to provide a paper signed by two specialists to prove her
case.

As for younger girls under 18 years old, they will need
permission from their parents to abort – something that the
previous government got rid of in 2010.

Currently, the legislation allowed abortions without any
restriction until the 14th week of pregnancy and up to 22 weeks
if the fetus is shown to be seriously deformed.

The new law would provide "defense both for the protection of
the life of the unborn child and women's rights", the
Justice Minister Ruiz Gallardon indicated.

He also said the new bill would penalize those who carry out
abortions but would not criminalize women for having the
procedure.

The opposition and women’s rights activists are strongly against
the law, saying it will take women’s rights in Spain back 30
years – and indeed, the new legislation is more restrictive than
that in 1985.

As a result women "will go to underground places", Salim
Chami, a gynaecologist at the Isadora abortion clinic in Madrid,
told AFP.

Elena Valenciano, deputy leader of the opposition Socialist
(PSOE) Party, called for those who were against the new law to
show their opposition and "mobilize society against what is
going to be a reduction in women's freedom which is impossible to
understand."